I took my 1500 m time in a 50 m pool 12 weeks before, and it was 31'42". Afterwards the 50 m pool I use closed for annual maintenance.
In these 12 weeks, I joined a squad and did 2 sessions per week, swam open water with a group every weekend, and also swam intervals on my own in a 25 m pool, with about 12 - 15 km total per week.
The 50 m pool I use reopened this week, so the first thing I did while returning was to take my time again, but the result was 31'13" - only 29 seconds improvement over 12 weeks! In contrast, I improved for 45 seconds in the preceding 6 weeks, from 32'27" to 31'42", and those 6 weeks were the weeks I newly joined the squad and I normally did only 1 session per week, and no intervals on my own.
I was targeting 30' and attempted to swim at an aerobic intensity which I thought I could sustain for 30 lengths, but I could only sustain my form for around 400 m. Afterwards, I felt my teres major were so tight that I couldn't perform my stroke well, my arms simply failed to execute my desired stroke even I reduced my stroke rate a bit, and the stiffness even persisted in the cool down after completing the set, and for another few hours.
According to my wearable, I was taking 31 - 32 cycles at the beginning, and 34 - 35 cycles at the end per 50 m length, while my stroke rate remained mostly the same. I was swimming at around 59" / 50 m in the 2nd to 4th lengths, then deteriorated to around 62" / 50 m in the middle, and about 65" / 50 m by the end.
The cumulative time as recorded by my wearable was follows:
250 m: 4'52"
500 m: 9'59"
750 m: 15'19"
1000 m: 20'31"
1250 m: 25'56"
1500 m: 31'14"
I'm very disappointed that, even after a few months of intense training, I still haven't reached 30' / 1500 m in long course yet. I'm taking a very expensive 1-1 professional analysis tomorrow, and hope that afterwards I can know all my technique problems and target them in the coming month in my own training, and get a jump in my speed.
but I need to know if I am better or worse than before after all those squad training!
Swimming success is not a linear graph that keeps going up. It has highs and lows. You may be worse in the short term, but in the long run may be better off. I was training heavily and went slower in my 500 FR in December than I did in November. Does that mean I am worse off? Maybe, but I tend to be a “glass half full” guy. I’ll know in three weeks when I am finished tapering and head to YMCA Nationals if my work I did actually put me in a better place.
Swimming is all about playing the LONG game. And by LONG I don’t mean a few weeks or a few months. I’m talking years.
As discussed in the other forum in which you've raised all these concerns: stop analyzing (so much) and just get in the water. This is supposed to be fun. Sign up for the 5k and swim as much of it as you can.
but I need to know if I am better or worse than before after all those squad training!
If I am training properly I expect to get to elite standard in 5 years
TBH, you need to get some perspective. Have you even interacted with people who are swimming at an elite level? Seen the way they train and compete and their mindset in person? Have you even quantified what you consider to be "an elite standard?"
The standard I'm talking about is the national championship qualifying time in my country (9'50.29" for 800 LCM), and the one I met in his 40s did 9'30.23" in the FINA world master champ.
Well I went 9:31 last summer so hot damn, you can classify me as "an elite standard."
Jeff, what's your 800 time?
If I am training properly I expect to get to elite standard in 5 years (I don't believe age matters - someone in my country is still performing in that standard in his upper 40s, though his training is insane), like I do in my other sport.
This is totally misguided for just about any sport I would think, but especially for swimming. Like Jeff mentioned, I would love to know what you classify as "elite standard". If you were, for instance, trying to reach my level, well, it took me 31 years to get to this point. And I am nowhere near Jeff's level (although I could probably take him in the 1000/1650 ;) ) and he has probably been at it nearly as long (being a few years younger than me). I also know that even if I can keep up my trend of still going LIFETIME bests in my best events into my mid 30s, I still won't ever catch someone like him, so I guess I won't reach elite status (if that's how you or I defined it).
I don't have the patience to take it for years.
Then you may not have the patience for this sport?
Swimming success is not a linear graph that keeps going up. It has highs and lows. You may be worse in the short term, but in the long run may be better off. I was training heavily and went slower in my 500 FR in December than I did in November. Does that mean I am worse off? Maybe, but I tend to be a “glass half full” guy. I’ll know in three weeks when I am finished tapering and head to YMCA Nationals if my work I did actually put me in a better place.
Swimming is all about playing the LONG game. And by LONG I don’t mean a few weeks or a few months. I’m talking years.
I've found another coach not in my club (with more similar background to me, doing multiple endurance sports but not spent all his life swimming, not those ex-Olympian guys like the squad coach) to give me some private lessons and I've done the first today, and one of his advice he gave me was the direct opposite to what the squad coach has done on me - he wants me to decrease my turnover and do more catch-up, while the squad coach has made my turnover increased a lot over these few months.
However, the big race is coming in 5 weeks, and I don't have the patience to take it for years. If I am training properly I expect to get to elite standard in 5 years (I don't believe age matters - someone in my country is still performing in that standard in his upper 40s, though his training is insane), like I do in my other sport. Moreover, I would also like to do some swims which require extended training in a foreign country - which means requiring some long-term visa which my options are limited (like working holiday - the age limit is 30 years old - therefore I consider that a hard limit and I really cannot afford to wait for YEARS to get to that level). For example, I have a friend who now lives in a cold foreign country and does ice swimming - which is not doable in my hot country.
TBH, you need to get some perspective. Have you even interacted with people who are swimming at an elite level? Seen the way they train and compete and their mindset in person? Have you even quantified what you consider to be "an elite standard?"
The standard I'm talking about is the national championship qualifying time in my country (9'50.29" for 800 LCM), and the one I met in his 40s did 9'30.23" in the FINA world master champ. He is the CEO of a telecommunication company and his training is insane (like 80 km a week). He trains in a 25-yard pool in a recreation club (a place which is considered the sign of the upper class) starting at 5:30 a.m. We have chatted for a while and find him so harsh that I dare not talk with him anymore.
And that's what you want to be?!
The fact that I cannot find a way to squeeze so much training into my working schedule even if I needed somehow in the future (i.e. if I need to train for channel swimming, I have to change my full time job into part time to accommodate for the training) already annoys me, especially when considering the fact that a CEO is much more busier than a low level employee such as me.
I asked him about this, and he mentioned that he has flexible working hours so he can work it around for his training. (However, I prefer fixed working hours because I can schedule all my training with certainty). Moreover, his training starts at 5:30 a.m. in a recreation club exclusively for the upper class (at 5:30 a.m. public transport is not running - frankly I don't know if he really lives near enough to get there without using transport), while me in the working class can only start at 6:30 a.m. since the school pool I use opens at that time, and closes soon after I off work in winter time.
Then I asked him about his training in marathon swimming. Turns out that he even does private coaching on that, despite being a CEO in a multinational company and training 80 km a week! I then no longer dare to talk with him. He's too harsh.
